Every dollar that comes into my house screams from being squeezed. Under the old Imperial Irrigation District board, if I had my power turned off for lack of payment to IID, it would require a $400 penalty fee to hook the power back up. I believe the new IID board has taken pity on the poor by getting rid of this horrifying $400 penalty. This economy has made life in the Imperial Valley very scary. I would like to know if this rumor is true? If it is, the new board will have shown true compassion for the poor. — Interested Observer, Imperial County
What is clear is the Imperial Irrigation District board last week changed the way it charges for reconnecting customers, and there was a small story in our newspaper Tuesday.
We’ll go more into detail on the changes in a minute.
What isn’t clear, however, is how the letter writer came up with the $400 figure. Still, it’s difficult to come up with any number under the old system IID had in place before last week.
Marion Champion, IID spokeswoman, said in June, “in an effort to reduce the Energy Department year-end debt write-off, the deposit requirements were increased for reconnecting customer accounts that were disconnected for nonpayment.”
She emphasized the fees were not supposed to be seen as a penalty.
Under that system, the first time a customer was cutoff for nonpayment, reconnection required a $50 deposit, plus the amount of the outstanding bill, a $25 service establishment fee.
If the customer was disconnected again within a 12-month period, they were required to pay a deposit that was equal to two times their average monthly bill, plus the current bill, plus the service establishment fee.
The new system does seem simpler and a lot less cruel, we’d say.
Champion said nonpayment cutoffs can be re-established with a $25 deposit, plus the amount of the bill, plus the $25 service establishment fee. Then, if the customer satisfactorily pays their bills for 12 months, the reconnect deposit of $25 will be credited to their next billing.
Of course the reality is not quite as sweet and dewy as the letter writer makes it sound, but we think it certainly takes the hardships that people endure here into consideration.
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